Retšelisitsoe Khetsi
. . . as Israeli firm is convicted of bribing former PS
Tefo Tefo
THE recent conviction of Nikuv International Projects for bribing a former Lesotho government official in Israel has given the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO) renewed impetus to investigate the controversial awarding of the M300 million tender in 2012.
Nikuv was on Thursday last week convicted by the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court of bribing former Home Affairs principal secretary (PS) Retšelisitsoe Khetsi to influence the awarding of the tender.
The Israeli firm was controversially awarded the lucrative contract to computerise the country’s border-control system and produce electronic passports, birth and death certificates and national Identity Documents (IDs) without an open public tender.
As part of a plea deal, the court fined Nikuv NIS 4.5 million (about M16.4 million) for bribing Mr Khetsi.
In addition to the fine and forfeiture of assets, the company was ordered to cooperate with law enforcement authorities in Lesotho investigating the case, as well as revise its internal policies in order to prevent future cases of bribery.
Nikuv escaped prosecution in Lesotho after striking a deal with the government that the firm’s employees and other people related to the case would not be charged but become accomplice witnesses in a bribery and corruption case against Mr Khetsi.
The former PS is facing bribery and corruption charges before the High Court for allegedly receiving a M5 million bribe from Nikuv to facilitate the awarding of the tender to the company.
In 2015, Mr Khetsi lost a High Court application in which he wanted the prosecution to drop corruption and bribery charges. Mr Khetsi had argued that his right to a fair trial would be infringed if Nikuv employees were turned into state witnesses against him.
This was after the prosecution turned his co-accused, South African national Motsotuoa Makoa, into a state witness against him.
Mr Makoa was Nikuv’s agent who allegedly facilitated the bribe to Mr Khetsi. Mr Makoa, however, offered to testify against Mr Khetsi in exchange for amnesty.
Mr Khetsi argued that it was wrong for the government to turn Nikuv officials into accomplice witnesses yet it was only the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) who was vested with such powers.
High Court judge Justice Molefi Makara upheld the argument that only the DPP had powers to turn defendants into accomplice witnesses.
But Justice Makara refused to stay the prosecution of Mr Khetsi’s case permanently.
In the charge sheet, the prosecution alleges that between January and November 2012, Mr Khetsi, in his capacity as chief accounting officer and PS, received around M5 million in bribes from Mr Makoa, who was then the Nikuv agent.
Mr Khetsi is also facing an alternative charge of corruption in contravention of Section 21 (3) (b) of the Prevention of Corruption and Economic Offences Act No 5 of 1999. He is also accused of abusing his position as PS to violate Procurement Regulations No-1 of 2007 in granting the contract to Nikuv.
DCEO spokesperson ‘Matlhokomelo Senoko yesterday told the Lesotho Times that Nikuv’s conviction had paved the way for investigations to continue apace.
“We are going to proceed with the case against Nikuv, and get more information from Israel that contributed to the conviction of the company,” she said.
“The DCEO actually played a role in the conviction because we were exchanging information with the Israelis when they were investigating the case against Nikuv. So we are also expecting their information assistance to further our investigations against the same company.”
Ms Senoko however said they were yet to map out a strategy to take the investigation forward.
Meanwhile, Mr Khetsi is expected to appear again before the High Court in February to set dates for the hearing of his trial.
